Contrary to statements of the long faces pictured at last Friday's presser, they hadn't "just learned" about the hanky-panky, they'd known about it for months. Here's the Deputy, the Interim Maximum Leader, the Wonder Weasel, explaining himself:

Michel acknowledged that Sheehan's comments contradict the comments he and three other senators made to reporters on Friday. At that time, Michel said the allegations about Koch's behavior were first reported to them a few weeks ago. Michel said he wasn't honest about the timeline in an attempt to protect Sheehan and other staffers.

"I felt at that time that if I said two months or whatever that exact number is, that that would have very obviously pointed out who the whistleblower was and I did not want to do that and I felt it was my duty not to disclose that identity," Michel said.

But Collins carefully threads Michel on to the shish kebab:

If that were true, the proper answer is "no comment," something the senators had no trouble saying in response to a number of other questions that were asked at that news conference. Instead, Michel intended to mislead the reporters [my emphasis] -- he refers to it as being "intentionally vague" -- and, by extension, the people of Minnesota. Ironically, he cited "ethical responsibilities" in announcing the Koch affair in the first place.

"We want to be as open as we can be with you," Sen. Geoff Michel told WCCO's Pat Kessler, a few minutes before misleading the assembled questioners.

We want to be as open with you as we can. Now, that's funny.

It is as clear as it can be that Michel wanted to leave the impression that he and the other senators assembled had just learned about L'affaire Brokdorb and were out of breath from rushing to the press conference to get the news out.